“It’s a leap day,” Liqin mutters to herself as she fixes her hair. She’s sitting on one of the two couches inside of the recording studio, carefully going over the sheet music in front of her. She looks at the calendar beside the door and hums under her breath as she reads the date again. “Interesting how we’re recording on this day.”

            “What was that?” one of the two empty chairs in front of the soundboard creaks as Minseok turns around. “Did you say something Liqin ssi?” The lyricist drums his fingers on the table and taps the pen in his hand absentmindedly as he watches the quiet vocalist shake her head with a tired gaze. All of the staff and Cosmos members had been working around the clock these past couple of days in order to prepare for Cosmos’ debut. Along with producing, writing, and choreographing other tracks, Liqin and the others were fairly wiped out. But it was worth it. Today they were going to record for 4 Walls and to be completely honest Liqin was buzzing with excitement. The normally mellow girl was happily humming as she waited for her team members and staff to arrive.

            “Sorry I’m late,” a male voice says, opening the door to the studio. Liqin looks up to see Jinhyuk, Minseok’s older brother, come in and take a seat on the other couch. He nods at Liqin and sighs as Minseok begins to jokingly .

            “Hyung, you’re supposed to be the responsible one here why are you late? I can’t believe I got here before you did! I mean like, you always tell me that I’m not punctual but here you are, running in with your tail between your legs! Staff members are supposed to be here a good hour before the idols or trainees so we can go over the soundboard and check the equipment but look at you! Liqin ssi is already here waiting!” Minseok rambles on; spinning around in his chair as Jinhyuk merely rubs his temples.

            “Okay, okay, sorry,” Jinhyuk finally cuts the talkative brother off. “Did you check the equipment by yourself then?”

            “Nope,” Minseok grins. “Mirae ssi came in and helped me out, but then she ran off. Said she forgot something in her bag?”

            “Mirae ssi?” Liqin pipes up. “Whose that?” Jinhyuk and Minseok turn to look at her with quizzical looks on their faces.

            “You don’t know?” Jinhyuk finally breaks the awkward silence. “Didn’t Xiuxin tell you?”

            “No?” Liqin responds, slightly unsure of herself.

            “Probably wanted it to be a surprise then,” Minseok comments, looking over at his brother. “Should we tell her?”

            “Nah, let’s wait until everyone gets here. I’m assuming Xiuxin didn’t tell all of you?” Jinhyuk asks, and nods when Liqin confirms his suspicions. “Anyways, where are the other girls? Even if I’m late for a staff member shouldn’t they be coming in soon?”

            “Isn’t it raining outside?” Liqin asks as Minseok turns back to the table and fiddles with a couple of the knobs and buttons. “Maybe traffic is keeping them? I walked here before the rain fell but I think the others were still fighting over the washroom with the other trainees.”

            “Oh, that’s right, you guys haven’t moved into your own dorm yet,” Jinhyuk says. “I think Yoo-nim finished arranging your housing last night though – so you’ll be able to move out soon enough. Won’t that be nice? Having more room to yourself and all.”

            “I guess,” Liqin nods. “Moving from living with eight other girls to just three is definitely an improvement.” Jinhyuk laughs at that and the two continue talking about random topics until the door opens again and reveals the last three Cosmos members.

            “Sorry we’re late!” Eunhwa announces, shaking water from her head. Liqin covers with her hand to stop from laughing as Ina picks at the wet material of her shirt. “It was raining, as you can see,” Eunhwa laughs a bit awkwardly, stretching out her arms to show off her dripping sweater.

            “At least no one was wearing white?” Solbi suggests, quickly trying her wet hair in a messy bun to keep the drops of water from making her clothes wetter.

            “Why didn’t you bring an umbrella?” Jinhyuk questions as Minseok gets up to get the girls towels and maybe bring a mop along as well. Jinhyuk eyes the growing puddle of rainwater around the trio’s feet crinkles his nose.

            “We didn’t expect it to rain,” Solbi explains. “And we were already running late. It didn’t even start to rain until we got on the bus.”

            “We only had to run a short way but we still got soaked,” Ina mutters, disgust evident in her tone and manner. The three girls wait a little while more before Minseok arrives, handing them towels and a change of clothes.

            “I met Xiuxin along the way, she was coming along to give you guys these,” Minseok explains as he passes a pair of clothes to Liqin as well. “They’re training outfits – Yoo-nim had them ordered for you guys as a present. I guess it’s good that they came in today.” Minseok sighs as he watches the girls leave again to go change (minus a comfortably dry Liqin) and begins to mop the floor. “At least I managed to convince Yoo-nim that we should have the floors be hardwood instead of carpet,” he mutters as he cleans up the mess.

            Soon enough, the three girls return, dressed in white tops and varying sweatpants. Eunhwa was wearing red, Ina had green, and Solbi was wearing a soft yellow. Curious, Liqin peaks into her own bag of clothes and sees a white shirt and a pair of deep blue sweatpants. Looking back up at her team members, she sees Ina and Solbi take a seat beside Jinhyuk while Eunhwa settles comfortably next to her. Nodding at the older girl, Liqin finds herself retreating back into her shell as the group waits for Minseok to return from putting away the mop and bucket. A silence falls over the room as Liqin and the others run through the lyrics once more while Jinhyuk stands up to check that the microphones and speakers were connected.

            “Jinhyuk ssi I already arranged those the way I wanted them,” a voice complains as the door opens. “Now I’ll have to fix them again!” Liqin looks up to see short girl (then again, pretty much everyone was short to Liqin) stalk into the room and glare at the vocal coach. She waves him away and observes the soundboard before changing a couple switches and then sitting down in the other unoccupied chair.

            “Sorry,” Jinhyuk scratches the back of his neck, “I was just checking.” The girl nods, running her fingers over the keyboard beside the soundboard, before turning around and regarding Liqin and the others with a curious and judgemental gaze.

            “Mirae!” Liqin turns to see Ina smiling widely. She gets up and greets the other girl before Ina sits back down. Cocking her head to the side, Liqin observes the other girl. She seemed slightly peeved, as if annoyed by something beyond her control, and had an aura of cold, elegance around her. Like she was someone who shouldn’t be bothered by little details and day to day drama. An Ice Queen, Liqin nods mentally, that’s probably what others would call her.

            “So you’re the producer?” Ina asks. Now this pipes Liqin’s attention. Liqin tunes herself back into the conversation and watches as the stranger – Mirae she’s assuming – nods hesitantly. “Amazing! I was worried when I was told I’d debut that I’d fail in making a debut track but if you made the song then it’s solid. Of course, I’ve already listened to it a million times, and it did seem kind of familiar, but I wasn’t sure if it was one of yours.” Furrowing her eyebrows, Liqin moves her gaze from Mirae to Ina. She had only known the other girl for a couple of days but she had never, never, seen the other girl this relaxed. Ina had, what others would call, a resting face and Liqin had been slightly intimidated by the other girl at first. Although the two were the same age, Liqin couldn’t shake the feeling that Ina had been through a lot more than she did. In any case, Ina never really seemed to fit in with the other members (not that Liqin could say anything, she was quite the shy person herself – honestly, during the two group practices they’d had so far, only Eunhwa and Solbi had been talking) but she seemed at home talking to Mirae about the track.

            “I’m back!” Minseok announces, running into the room and closing the door behind him. “Ah, Mirae, you’re here too,” Minseok nods at the trainee before settling into his chair. “Alright kids,” Minseok starts.

            “I’m your hyung.”

            “Anyways,” Minseok glares at Jinhyuk. “Let’s start recording shall we? Although Xiuxin didn’t tell you, this here is Mirae, a trainee, and she’s the one who produced your title track. I assume you’ve all heard it correct?” Four heads nod in unison. “Alright, then we’ll do a dry run first and then start recording. Mirae, if you’ll please, start the song so we can get the melody into our heads one more time?” Mirae nods, reach over to hit the ‘play’ button on the computer and the song begins to flow into the room. Liqin closes her eyes and mouths her lyrics; she lets herself relax as the song continues to play. If anything, Liqin really did like the song Mirae produced. The instrumental of the song was soft – not like the usual pop songs girl groups debuted with – and it worked well with Liqin’s own, softer vocals. Usually, when Liqin had practiced other songs, the other trainees and coaches constantly told her to sing louder as the melody of the music tended to overshadow her voice without a sensitive microphone. This song however, was soft enough to let Liqin’s melodic voice be heard but still loud and upbeat enough to be interesting.

            As the song ended, Liqin opens her eyes and sees Mirae examining her carefully. When the other girl notices Liqin watching her however, Mirae averts her gaze and turns to Jinhyuk. Staring at Mirae for a couple more seconds, Liqin eventually fixes her attention on the vocal coach as well and listens as he reminds them once again about the points of the song they should pay attention to.

            “Alright, you guys have practiced this song as a group right?” Jinhyuk looks around the room. “I hoped so, I specifically told you to after all. Well we’ll try it once more, with the backing track, before we start recording – just in case there are any last minute adjustments we should make.” Nodding, Mirae turns to start the song again and Liqin feels her palms start to get damp as the beginning chords play. Tapping her foot to the beat, Liqin watches as first Ina, then Solbi, and then Eunhwa sing their lines. Taking a deep breath, Liqin opens and lets her own lines flow out of her. Soon enough, the final bars of the song are played and Liqin takes a deep breath.

            “That wasn’t bad,” Mirae comments, causing all four members to look at her curiously. “It was pretty good; there are just a couple points...” Mirae picks up her own copy of the lyrics and music sheet. “Like here, naccseon paran bicci pagodeureo eojireophin geon mysteric,” Mirae sings. “Right here, take a short pause before continuing, so it would sound something like, naccseon paran bicci pagodeureo eojireophin geon, pause, mysteric.” Looking up, Eunhwa nods and tries the line again the way Mirae instructs. “That’s good, remember that,” Eunhwa makes a note on her sheet. “Continuing on...” Liqin and the other girls listen closely as Mirae goes through the song once more, stopping at times to tell each girl what they were doing wrong and what they were doing right. Liqin squirms uncomfortably under Mirae’s scrutinizing gaze when the producer points out her mistakes, but even she felt a lot more confident after listening to Mirae’s advice.

            “Alright, since we got that down,” Minseok turns around. “We’ll start recording yes? Let’s begin with Liqin seeing as she has the most lines shall we?” All eyes on the room turn to Liqin, causing her to gulp nervously. She had been kind of hoping that she would go last. That way she would be able to observe the others before her and maybe the other girls would leave after their turn so she’d be able to record by herself. However, it looked like fate didn’t want to cooperate with her today so Liqin sighs softly before getting off of the couch.

            Entering the recording room, Liqin places her papers on the music stand behind the microphone and reaches for the headphones. Placing them snugly over her ears, she looks out the long glass window and sees Mirae fiddling with the soundboard again. The three other girls look back at her and give her supportive smiles while Jinhyuk and Minseok switch places seeing as Liqin didn’t have any rapping parts.

            “Alright Liqin,” Jinhyuk presses a button to let his voice be heard in the soundproof room. “Are you ready?”

            “Yes,” Liqin says, hoping the others could hear her. It was part of every trainee’s monthly assessment to do a short recording in order to get familiar with the studio and recording process yet somehow, Liqin had never really gotten the whole thing down. Luckily for her, Jinhyuk and the others seemed to hear her.

            “Okay, let’s go through a series of sound tests shall we?” this time it was Mirae speaking. Liqin nods and follows the exercises Mirae tells her to do. After singing a variety of scales and speaking as quietly and loudly as possible, Liqin sees Mirae adjusting the levels and sensitivity of the microphone. “Alright, that should be good. Let’s get started. 4 Walls, Liqin, recording number one,” Mirae leans in close to the microphone on her side of the glass so it picks up her voice before releasing the button and ending the call between the studio and the recording room. Liqin sees Mirae press a couple more buttons before she hears the song start to flow through the headphones. Taking a deep breath, Liqin begins to sing her parts of the song.

            It was a bit difficult, seeing as she was the first one to go; the other member’s parts weren’t recorded so she was basically singing along to an instrumental version of the song. As such, she probably had to redo her recordings a little more than normal since she didn’t have any vocal cues as to when to start, but Liqin sighs in happiness when she finishes recording. Collecting her papers and placing the headphones back in their original place, Liqin exits the studio and is greeted with applause.

            “Great job,” Jinhyuk smiles up at her. Eunhwa and Ina give her a thumbs up while Solbi cheers loudly. Mirae simply nods. “Alright, next up is Ina.” Taking her original seat, Liqin watches as Ina gets up and enters the recording room. Her recording goes by with fairly no problem, although she stuttered and tripped over certain words, Jinhyuk and Mirae simply led her through the process and within no time, Ina was triumphantly walking out of the booth. Out of courtesy, Liqin claps along when the others congratulate the Vietnamese girl and she returns the applause with a small, genuine smile.

            The next member to record turns out to be Eunhwa and so Liqin watches as the rapper makes her way into the recording room. Minseok and Jinhyuk switch places and Mirae adjusts the levels once again. As Eunhwa begins her recording session, Liqin notices that Solbi seems to be more nervous than usual. The normally energetic and happy girl had a frown on her face and Liqin notes that Solbi watches Eunhwa with a serious look. Wondering whether or not Solbi was nervous or not, Liqin’s thoughts are broken when Eunhwa comes out of the booth.

            “That was quick,” Ina comments, as Eunhwa and Minseok share a high five.

            “I don’t have many lines,” Eunhwa laughs. “Just the rap really.”

            “Then my part shouldn’t take too long,” Solbi jokes, although Liqin narrows her eyes when she sees that Solbi’s smile wasn’t filled with its usual mirth. “I have like, four lines after all.”

            “We’ll see about that,” Mirae states, giving Solbi a dirty look. “Now hurry up and get in there, we still need to fix the song up and clean it after you’re done recording.” Gulping, Liqin fidgets anxiously as Solbi and Mirae exchange a heated look before Solbi retreats into the recording booth. As Solbi looks through her sheets and puts the headphones on, Liqin watches Mirae deliberately stare at everything but the other girl in the other room. While Mirae had been attentive and observant during the other recording sessions, she seemed almost careless about this one. Hoping she was imagining things, Liqin leans back as Solbi begins her recording session.

            “No, you’re singing it wrong,” Mirae sighs for what seems like the millionth time. Liqin flinches at the look on Solbi’s face while Mirae begins to berate the older girl once again. Looking at the clock, Liqin gasps slightly when she realizes that Solbi had been recording for a good hour already. While the other girls had taken around thirty minutes to an hour to record their parts, Solbi had only sang two lines.

            “What am I doing wrong?” Solbi exclaims, “I’m singing it exactly as it is!”

            “And that’s where you’re wrong,” Mirae glares at the Korean girl. “Obviously you’re missing the whole feel of this song. Look, tikkeul hana eopsi wanbyeokhaessdeon sijageul neomeo, the ending part, neomeo, has to be dreamier. Like it’s lifting away.”

            “What the hell does that even mean?” Solbi growls, clenching her fists on the music stand in front of her.

            “Hey, calm down,” Minseok cuts in, leaning forward from his place on the couch. The man gets up and walks over to the soundboard. “Mirae, you’re too nit-picky on this part. Obviously Solbi won’t be able to sing it to your standard, the way you imagine the song and the way she imagines the song is different after all. And you, Solbi, you shouldn’t let your emotions get the best of you. You are to respect the producer and director alright? We’re all just trying to help you – this goes for the both of you.”

            “Sorry,” Mirae mutters, looking away from Minseok and Solbi and finding interest in the computer screen instead. Solbi merely huffs out a low apology and fixes her headphones.

            “Alright, then let’s start this again,” Minseok steps back, and watches closely as Mirae plays the song. Liqin relaxes her muscles but holds her breath until the problematic line is passed. Even with Minseok acting as a peacekeeper, Mirae and Solbi argue for another two hours over the rest of Solbi’s lines. Liqin can practically see sparks flying between the two girls and by the end of the recording session, she is both mentally and emotionally tired out. As Solbi exits the booth, she and Mirae exchange another glare before Mirae goes back to looking at the audio files on the computer.

            “Okay, so that’s over,” Jinhyuk starts awkwardly, looking at the members. “Now that you’ve finished recording, Mirae and I can start finishing up the song. I’ve also heard a couple of your songs Ina, and submitted the best ones to Yoo-nim. She’ll start picking out the ones for the album and soon enough, Eunhwa and Minseok will be able to start writing lyrics. Solbi and Liqin, we’ll send you the finished song after we clean it up but you already have the demo so you and Henry ssi can start working on the choreography.”

            “But for now,” Minseok pipes up. “We’ve all had a long day slaving away in the studio, along with the millions of other things we’ve had to do this week, so you guys are free to do whatever you want.”

            “Awesome,” Eunhwa smiles, speaking up for the other members. “I guess we’ll see you guys around then!” Eunhwa turns, herding the members out into the corridor. Liqin quietly stands aside as Solbi grumbles past her. After the group walks a bit away from the recording studio, Solbi finally whirls around, anger and frustration evident on her face.

            “What the hell was her problem?” she asks no one in particular – although she was glaring at the three of them. “Like, she was only targeting me, I know it,” Solbi’s eyes narrow. “She was so, so stuck up. Just because she made the song like, I’m sorry I can’t sing it the way you want to but there’s a reason I made the line up and she didn’t–”

            “Hey,” Ina pipes up, staring at Solbi with a cold look on her face. “You can’t just say things like that.”

            “But it’s true,” Solbi scoffs, flipping her hair absentmindedly as she gives the studio door another heated glare. “And she knows it. I bet that’s why she’s taking it out on me. She’s probably jealous or something that annoying little brat.”

            “Even if it is,” Liqin speaks up, causing the other three girls to look at her. “Uh,” Liqin’s voice quivers slightly under the increased attention. “You shouldn’t say that. What if you didn’t make it? That’s kind of insensitive...”

            “She’s right,” Eunhwa nods. “Even if you’re right,” Eunhwa puts her hand up before Solbi can deny or confirm that fact. “You can’t take your anger out like that. Being frustrated is fine, but at the same time, you have to respect the original artist’s opinions right?”

            “I guess,” Solbi mumbles, kicking the floor angrily. Liqin doesn’t think Solbi looks very understanding. “She still could’ve been nicer.”

            “That’s just the way she is,” Ina shrugs, but Liqin notices the slight tenseness of her shoulders. Ina was not happy about this situation at all – that much Liqin could tell. But Liqin wasn’t one to bring things up – or confront people for that matter – so she let it slide.

            “Anyways, now that we’ve recorded the song, we’ll have to double our efforts to finish the album. Debut is almost here guys; don’t let small things distract you alright?” Eunhwa concludes, acting very leader-like in Liqin’s opinion. The rest of the girls nod and disperse Eunhwa and Ina head towards the production studios to write music and lyrics, while Liqin and Solbi head downstairs to the practice rooms.

            “Have you thought about the choreography?” Liqin asks softly as they step into the elevator. Although Solbi was usually a talkative individual, the recording session seemed to have taken a toll on her and the other girl was leaning on the steel walls of the box tiredly. “I think I thought of something to connect the chorus to the bridge.”

            “The part where we’re just awkwardly standing there for a couple seconds?” Solbi asks, turning her head so that more of her face was connected to the cool material.

            “Yes, I was thinking we could have a transition or some sort,” Liqin says. Raising her eyebrow at the lack of effort Solbi was putting into the conversation; Liqin decides to go against her normal reaction of letting the topic go and continues talking. “You know how it takes a while before we can all get in the line? I was thinking the person in the front – since their position is easiest to get to – could make a heart or some kind of fan service to distract the camera or whatever while the rest of us get into position you know? So that the camera will focus on them at that part so the rest of the members can get into the line a little easier since they don’t have to focus on looking messy.”

            “You’re voice is really soothing,” Solbi cuts in, smiling slightly.

            “W-what?” Liqin is taken aback, literally. The tall girl takes a small step back right as the elevator doors open.

            “I don’t know, listening to you is calming,” Solbi shrugs. “I feel better now.” Grinning, Solbi peeks over her shoulder as she exits the elevator and bursts out laughing. “Are you blushing?” the shorter girl asks, stepping back in. “That’s adorable,” Solbi coos, before grabbing Liqin’s arm and forcefully removing her before the doors closed. “Now let’s go, you can show me about this move you’re talking about.”

And that conflict is solved. Or is it? *mysterious aura* I was supposed to have this chapter posted like on Sunday but this thing called school came along and punched me in the face and then kicked me on the back as it left. TT^TT Even now I should be studying for my last test tomorrow but alas, procrastination is the key to absolutely nothing I have no excuses.

Hope you're smiling!

~ Yun